A Study of Trastuzumab Emtansine (Kadcyla) Plus Pertuzumab (Perjeta) Following Anthracyclines in Comparison With Trastuzumab (Herceptin) Plus Pertuzumab and a Taxane Following Anthracyclines as Adjuvant Therapy in Participants With Operable HER2-Positive Primary Breast Cancer
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ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01966471 |
Recruitment Status :
Completed
First Posted : October 21, 2013
Results First Posted : January 12, 2021
Last Update Posted : June 14, 2022
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Condition or disease | Intervention/treatment | Phase |
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Breast Cancer | Drug: Trastuzumab Emtansine Drug: Trastuzumab Drug: Pertuzumab Drug: Paclitaxel Drug: Epirubicin Drug: Doxorubicin Drug: Docetaxel Drug: Cyclophosphamide Drug: 5-Fluorouracil | Phase 3 |
Study Type : | Interventional (Clinical Trial) |
Actual Enrollment : | 1846 participants |
Allocation: | Randomized |
Intervention Model: | Parallel Assignment |
Masking: | None (Open Label) |
Primary Purpose: | Treatment |
Official Title: | A Randomized, Multicenter, Open-Label, Phase III Trial Comparing Trastuzumab Plus Pertuzumab Plus a Taxane Following Anthracyclines Versus Trastuzumab Emtansine Plus Pertuzumab Following Anthracyclines as Adjuvant Therapy in Patients With Operable HER2-Positive Primary Breast Cancer |
Actual Study Start Date : | January 31, 2014 |
Actual Primary Completion Date : | November 27, 2019 |
Actual Study Completion Date : | June 4, 2021 |

Arm | Intervention/treatment |
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Active Comparator: Anthracycline Followed by Trastuzumab, Pertuzumab, and Taxane
Trastuzumab and pertuzumab will be administered concurrently for up to a total duration of 1 year (up to 18 cycles [1 Cycle = 21 days]) with the taxane (docetaxel or paclitaxel) component of chemotherapy following anthracycline [5 fluorouracil, epirubicin, and cyclophosphamide (FEC) or epirubicin and cyclophosphamide (EC) or doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide (AC)] based chemotherapy.
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Drug: Trastuzumab
Trastuzumab IV infusion (duration 90 minutes) will be administered at 8 mg/kg loading dose followed by 6 mg/kg IV q3w for up to 18 cycles (1 cycle = 21 days).
Other Name: Herceptin Drug: Pertuzumab Pertuzumab infusion (duration 60 minutes) will be administered at 840 mg loading dose followed by 420 mg IV q3w for up to 18 cycles (1 cycle = 21 days).
Other Name: Perjeta Drug: Paclitaxel IV infusion of paclitaxel 80 mg/m^2 once weekly may be administered concurrently with trastuzumab in combination with pertuzumab for 12 weeks. Drug: Epirubicin 3 to 4 cycles (1 cycle = 21 days) of standard of care anthracycline-based chemotherapy using epirubicin may be administered in both Arms 1 and 2 as per discretion of the investigator and local prescribing information/institutional guidelines. Drug: Doxorubicin 3 to 4 cycles (1 cycle = 21 days) of standard of care anthracycline-based chemotherapy using doxorubicin may be administered in both Arms 1 and 2 as per discretion of the investigator and local prescribing information/institutional guidelines. Drug: Docetaxel IV infusion either docetaxel every 3 weeks (q3w) (at 100 milligram per square meter [mg/m^2] for 3 cycles (1 cycle = 21 days); at 75 mg/m2 for 4 cycles; or start at 75 mg/m^2 in the first cycle and escalate to 100 mg/m^2 if no dose limiting toxicity occurs, for a total of 3 cycles at minimum) may be administered concurrently with trastuzumab in combination with pertuzumab. Drug: Cyclophosphamide 3 to 4 cycles (1 cycle = 21 days) of standard of care anthracycline-based chemotherapy using cyclophosphamide (FEC) may be administered in both Arms 1 and 2 as per discretion of the investigator and local prescribing information/institutional guidelines. Drug: 5-Fluorouracil 3 to 4 cycles (1 cycle = 21 days) of standard of care anthracycline-based chemotherapy using 5-fluorouracil, may be administered in both Arms 1 and 2 as per discretion of the investigator and local prescribing information/institutional guidelines. |
Experimental: Anthracycline Followed by Trastuzumab Emtansine and Pertuzumab
Trastuzumab emtansine and pertuzumab will continue for up to a total duration of 1 year (up to 18 cycles [1 Cycle = 21 days]) following anthracycline [5 fluorouracil, epirubicin, and cyclophosphamide (FEC) or epirubicin and cyclophosphamide (EC) or doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide (AC)] based chemotherapy.
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Drug: Trastuzumab Emtansine
Trastuzumab emtansine IV infusion (duration 90 minutes) will be administered at 3.6 mg/kg q3w for up to 18 cycles (1 cycle = 21 days).
Other Name: Kadcyla Drug: Epirubicin 3 to 4 cycles (1 cycle = 21 days) of standard of care anthracycline-based chemotherapy using epirubicin may be administered in both Arms 1 and 2 as per discretion of the investigator and local prescribing information/institutional guidelines. Drug: Doxorubicin 3 to 4 cycles (1 cycle = 21 days) of standard of care anthracycline-based chemotherapy using doxorubicin may be administered in both Arms 1 and 2 as per discretion of the investigator and local prescribing information/institutional guidelines. Drug: Cyclophosphamide 3 to 4 cycles (1 cycle = 21 days) of standard of care anthracycline-based chemotherapy using cyclophosphamide (FEC) may be administered in both Arms 1 and 2 as per discretion of the investigator and local prescribing information/institutional guidelines. Drug: 5-Fluorouracil 3 to 4 cycles (1 cycle = 21 days) of standard of care anthracycline-based chemotherapy using 5-fluorouracil, may be administered in both Arms 1 and 2 as per discretion of the investigator and local prescribing information/institutional guidelines. |
- Invasive Disease-Free Survival (IDFS) in the Node-Positive Subpopulation [ Time Frame: Last participant randomized to data cut-off date of 27 November 2019 (approximately 70 months). The 3 year IDFS event-free rate was assessed based on the data collected for each participant considering the cut-off date mentioned above. ]IDFS event was defined as the time from randomization until the date of first occurrence of one of the following: Ipsilateral invasive breast tumor recurrence (an invasive breast cancer [bc] involving the same breast parenchyma as the original primary lesion); Ipsilateral local-regional invasive bc recurrence (an invasive bc in the axilla, regional lymph nodes, chest wall, and/or skin of the ipsilateral breast); Contralateral or ipsilateral second primary invasive bc; Distant recurrence (evidence of bc in any anatomic site [other than the three sites mentioned above]) that has either been histologically confirmed or clinically/radiographically diagnosed as recurrent invasive bc; Death attributable to any cause, including bc, non-bc, or unknown cause. 3-year IDFS event-free rate per randomized treatment arms in the ITT population was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method and estimated the probability of a participant being event-free after 3 years after randomization.
- Invasive Disease-Free Survival (IDFS) in the Overall Population [ Time Frame: First participant randomized up to approximately 7.5 years ]IDFS event was defined as the time from randomization until the date of first occurrence of one of the following: Ipsilateral invasive breast tumor recurrence (an invasive breast cancer [bc] involving the same breast parenchyma as the original primary lesion); Ipsilateral local-regional invasive bc recurrence (an invasive bc in the axilla, regional lymph nodes, chest wall, and/or skin of the ipsilateral breast); Contralateral or ipsilateral second primary invasive bc; Distant recurrence (evidence of bc in any anatomic site [other than the three sites mentioned above]) that has either been histologically confirmed or clinically/radiographically diagnosed as recurrent invasive bc; Death attributable to any cause, including bc, non-bc, or unknown cause. 3-year IDFS event-free rate per randomized treatment arms in the ITT population were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method and estimated the probability of a patient being event-free after 3 years after randomization.
- IDFS Plus Second Primary Non-Breast Cancer [ Time Frame: Baseline up to approximately 70 months ]IDFS including second primary non-breast cancer was defined the same way as IDFS for the primary endpoint but including second primary non breast invasive cancer as an event (with the exception of non-melanoma skin cancers and carcinoma in situ (CIS) of any site).
- Disease-Free Survival (DFS) [ Time Frame: Baseline up to approximately 70 months ]DFS was defined as time between randomization and first occurrence of IDFS, second primary non-breast cancer and contralateral or ipsilateral ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS).
- Distant Recurrence-Free Interval (DRFI) [ Time Frame: Baseline up to approximately 70 months ]DRFI was defined as time between randomization and first occurrence of distant breast cancer recurrence.
- Overall Survival (OS) [ Time Frame: First participant randomized up to approximately 7.5 years ]OS was defined as the time from randomization to death due to any cause.
- Percentage of Participants With Adverse Events [ Time Frame: From randomization to approximately 7.5 years ]An adverse event is any untoward medical occurrence in a participant administered a pharmaceutical product and which does not necessarily have to have a causal relationship with the treatment. An adverse event can therefore be any unfavorable and unintended sign (including an abnormal laboratory finding, for example), symptom, or disease temporally associated with the use of a pharmaceutical product, whether or not considered related to the pharmaceutical product. Preexisting conditions which worsen during a study are also considered as adverse events. AEs were reported based on the national cancer institute common terminology criteria for AEs, Version 4.0 (NCI-CTCAE, v4.0).
- Percentage of Participants With Decrease in Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction (LVEF) From Baseline Over Time [ Time Frame: First participant randomized up to approximately 7.5 years. ]LVEF was assessed using either echocardiogram (ECHO) or multiple-gated acquisition (MUGA) scans.
- European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core 30 (QLQ-C30) Score [ Time Frame: Baseline, Cycles 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 14, End of Treatment, Follow-up Month 6, Follow-up Month 12, Follow-up Month 18 ]The EORTC QLQ-C30 included global health status, functional scales (physical, role, emotional, cognitive, and social), symptom scales (fatigue, nausea/vomiting, and pain) and single items (dyspnoea, insomnia, appetite loss, constipation, diarrhea, and financial difficulties). Most questions used a 4-point scale (1 'Not at all' to 4 'Very much'; 2 questions used 7-point scale [1 'very poor' to 7 'Excellent']). Scores were averaged and transformed to 0 - 100 scale, whereby higher scores indicate greater functioning, greater quality of life, or a greater degree of symptoms, with changes of 7 - 15 points considered to be a clinically meaningful detioration to participants. A positive value means an increase, while a negative value means a decrease, in score at the indicated time-point relative to the score at baseline (Cycle 1, Day 1).
- EORTC Quality of Life Questionnaire-Breast Cancer 23 (QLQ-BR23) Score [ Time Frame: Baseline, Cycles 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 14, End of Treatment, Follow-up Month 6, Follow-up Month 12, Follow-up Month 18 ]EORTC-QLQ-BR23 is a 23-item breast cancer-specific companion module to the EORTC-QLQ-C30. There are four functional scales (body image, sexual enjoyment, sexual functioning, future perspective [FP]) and four symptom scales (systemic side effects [SE], upset by hair loss, arm symptoms, breast symptoms). Questions used 4-point scale (1=not at all, 2=a little, 3=quite a bit, 4=very much). Scores averaged and transformed to 0-100 scale. High score for functional scale indicated high/better level of functioning/healthy functioning. Higher scores for symptom scales represent higher levels of symptoms/problems. For functional scales, positive change from baseline indicated improvement in quality of life (QOL) while negative change from baseline indicated a deterioration. For symptom scales, positive change from baseline indicated deterioration and negative change indicated improvement.
- Time to Clinically Meaningful Deterioration in the Global Health Status/ Quality of Life and Functional (Physical, Role, and Cognitive) Subscales of the QLQ-C30 From First HER2-Targeted Treatment [ Time Frame: From start of HER-2 targeted treatment up to 18 months after treatment discontinuation. The median time to clinically meaningful deterioration was assessed based on the data collection described above. ]The time to clinically meaningful deterioration in the global health status/Quality of life and Functional (Physical, Role, and Cognitive) subscales of the the QLQ-C30 was assessed from the time of the HER2-Targeted treatment to the worsening in the respective scales. Clinically meaningful deterioration is defined as a decrease in score of 10 points in Physical functioning and HRQoL; decrease of 7 points in Cognitive functioning, and decrease of 14 points in Role functioning.

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Ages Eligible for Study: | 18 Years and older (Adult, Older Adult) |
Sexes Eligible for Study: | All |
Accepts Healthy Volunteers: | No |
Inclusion Criteria:
- Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status less than or equal to (</=) 1
- Non-metastatic histologically confirmed primary invasive breast carcinoma that was operable
- HER2-positive breast cancer
- Known hormone receptor status of the primary tumor
- Adequately excised: participants must have undergone either breast-conserving surgery or mastectomy/nipple- or skin-sparing mastectomy
- Pathological tumor-node-metastasis staging (Union for International Cancer Control-American Joint Committee on Cancer [UICC/AJCC] 7th edition): eligible participants must have either:
Node-positive disease (pN more than or equal to [>/=] 1), any tumor size except T0, and any hormonal receptor status; or Node-negative disease (pN0) with pathologic tumor size >2.0 centimeters by standard local assessment and negative for estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) determined by a central pathology laboratory
- Participants with synchronous bilateral invasive disease are eligible only if both lesions are HER2-positive
- No more than 9 weeks (63 days) may elapse between definitive breast surgery (or the last surgery if additional resection required for breast cancer) and randomization
- Baseline left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) >/=55% measured by echocardiogram (ECHO; preferred) or multiple-gated acquisition (MUGA) scans
- Documentation on hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) serology is required
- Female participants of childbearing potential must be willing to use one highly effective form of non-hormonal contraception or two effective forms of non-hormonal contraception. For male participants with partners of childbearing potential, one highly effective form of contraception or two effective forms of contraception must be used. Contraception must continue for the duration of study treatment and for 6 months after the last dose of study treatment
Exclusion Criteria:
- History of any prior (ipsilateral and/or contralateral) invasive breast carcinoma
- History of non-breast malignancies within the 5 years prior to randomization, except for carcinoma in situ (CIS) of the cervix, CIS of the colon, melanoma in situ, and basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas of the skin
- Any clinical T4 tumor as defined by tumor-node-metastasis classification in UICC/AJCC 7th edition, including inflammatory breast cancer
- For the currently diagnosed breast cancer, any previous systemic anti-cancer treatment (for example, neoadjuvant or adjuvant), including but not limited to, chemotherapy, anti-HER2 therapy (for example, trastuzumab, trastuzumab emtansine, pertuzumab, lapatinib, neratinib, or other tyrosine kinase inhibitors), hormonal therapy, OR anti-cancer radiation therapy (RT) (intra-operative radiotherapy as a boost at the time of primary surgery is acceptable)
- Previous therapy with anthracyclines, taxanes, or HER2-targeted therapy for any malignancy
- History of DCIS and/or lobular CIS (LCIS) that was treated with any form of systemic chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, or RT to the ipsilateral breast where invasive cancer subsequently developed. Participants who had their DCIS/LCIS treated with surgery only and/or contralateral DCIS treated with radiation are allowed to enter the study
- Participants with contraindication to RT while adjuvant RT is clinically indicated
- Concurrent anti-cancer treatment in another investigational trial
- Cardiopulmonary dysfunction as defined by protocol: angina pectoris requiring anti-anginal medication, serious cardiac arrhythmia not controlled by adequate medication, severe conduction abnormality, or clinically significant valvular disease, significant symptoms (Grade >/=2) relating to left ventricular dysfunction, cardiac arrhythmia, or cardiac ischemia, myocardial infarction within 12 months prior to randomization, uncontrolled hypertension, evidence of transmural infarction on electrocardiogram (ECG), requirement for oxygen therapy
- Other concurrent serious diseases that may interfere with planned treatment, including severe pulmonary conditions/illness, uncontrolled infections, uncontrolled diabetes, or known infection with HIV
- Any known active liver disease. For participants who are known carriers of HBV/HCV, active hepatitis B/C infection must be ruled out per local guidelines
- Inadequate hematologic, renal or liver function
- Pregnant or lactating women
- Hypersensitivity to any of the study medications or any of the ingredients or excipients of these medications, including hypersensitivity to benzyl alcohol
- Chronic immunosuppressive therapies, including systemic corticosteroids

To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT01966471

Study Director: | Clinical Trials | Hoffmann-La Roche |
Documents provided by Hoffmann-La Roche:
Responsible Party: | Hoffmann-La Roche |
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: | NCT01966471 |
Other Study ID Numbers: |
BO28407 2012-004902-82 ( EudraCT Number ) |
First Posted: | October 21, 2013 Key Record Dates |
Results First Posted: | January 12, 2021 |
Last Update Posted: | June 14, 2022 |
Last Verified: | June 2022 |
Ado-Trastuzumab Emtansine Breast Neoplasms Neoplasms by Site Neoplasms Breast Diseases Skin Diseases Maytansine Docetaxel Cyclophosphamide Doxorubicin Fluorouracil Trastuzumab Epirubicin Pertuzumab Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic |
Antineoplastic Agents Tubulin Modulators Antimitotic Agents Mitosis Modulators Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action Immunosuppressive Agents Immunologic Factors Physiological Effects of Drugs Antirheumatic Agents Antineoplastic Agents, Alkylating Alkylating Agents Myeloablative Agonists Antibiotics, Antineoplastic Topoisomerase II Inhibitors Topoisomerase Inhibitors |